Story Highlights

The University of Rochester softball team ran out of miracles on Friday, losing 9-1 to St. Thomas (Minn.) in the NCAA Division III Championships in Tyler, Texas.

The game ended with two outs in the bottom of the fifth because of the NCAA's "eight-run rule," which stops play if a team is ahead by eight or more runs after the trailing team has batted five times or falls behind by eight in the bottom of the fifth.

It was UR's second loss in as many days, and this one eliminated the Yellowjackets from the eight-team tournament. They finish their best season ever 32-14.

St. Thomas, which lost 1-0 to Salisbury in Thursday's opener, improved to 43-8 and stays alive in the double-elimination tournament.

UR had won seven consecutive elimination games to get this far, but the Yellowjackets never had a shot against the Tommies.

St. Thomas put up four runs in both the first and second innings and led 8-0 going into the fifth. UR needed to score at least one run to avoid instant elimination, and Tayler Fravel's RBI single put the Yellowjackets on the board. But St. Thomas scored in the bottom half on a single by Micaela Trainor, instantly ending the game.

Freshman Eleni Wechsler started for UR but was lifted after giving up a first-inning grand slam to Brenna Walek. Brittany Grage (Pittsford Mendon), who pitched 6-plus innings in Thursday's loss to Wisconsin-Whitewater, took over with one out in the first.

Emily Gregory's two-run double and two bases-loaded walks by Grage — all with two outs — widened St. Thomas' lead to 8-0 in the second inning. Walek had been walked intentionally to load the bases before Grage issued run-scoring passes to Kirstin Bigelbach and Mary Wentz.